WordPress SEO: 3 Amazingly Simple Tips

While this post is about WordPress SEO, I have to say it’s hard for me to believe that it has been nearly 4 years since I started blogging. And I also have to say, I knew very little about what I was doing back then. Like many others, I felt like I had something to say and so I pitched my virtual blogging tent and got started right away. I jumped in with both feet and with my eyes shut tight. In fact, I wrote a little bit about my thoughts surrounding those events in a guest post I did over at Fuel Your Blogging.

One thing I felt I did right, however, was I researched blogging platforms that were available. Since I was just starting out and I had no real budget yet, I knew I would need to begin my blogging journey using a free blogging platform. Ultimately, I narrowed it down to blogspot.com and wordpress.com. While both are very good for hosting a free blog, the WordPress platform just seemed better and more intuitive to me, so that’s where I started. Luckily my name was available and thus, tomjamieson.wordpress.com was born!

Fast forward a couple of years and I started realizing that operating my own self-hosted WordPress blog would give me greater freedom and more flexibility in my blogging efforts, so I began the quest toward hosting my own WordPress website. Now, there are a few other Tom Jamieson’s in the world, and for a time tomjamieson.com wasn’t available. Luckily for me, though, the previous owner let it expire while I was researching domain names and I was able to snatch it up! Now, having said all of that, if I had it to do all over again, I would not have started this blog using that domain name. I would have still purchased it to protect my brand, but I would have tried to choose a domain name more closely related to my niche. You can read my thoughts on this issue in a guest post I wrote recently on how Making Money Blogging Starts with a Great Domain Name.

And while you have probably already chosen a great domain name for your site, it brings me to my first WordPress SEO tip:

1. WordPress SEO Starts with Choosing the Right URL Structure

There are two important aspects to your URL structure in terms of your WordPress SEO strategy — permalinks and slugs.

Permalinks: One of the definite benefits of operating a self-hosted WordPress site is the ability to set and control your permalink structure. In case you don’t know what a permalink is, it is basically how your URL appears in your browser’s address bar. As an example, on this blog, the permalink structure is set up as tomjamieson.com/year/month/day/posttitle/. While this is not ideal, I have to use that structure on this blog so that all the redirects from my wordpress.com blog will be able to find their new location. On other sites I manage, I use a better structure that looks more like this: wpbig.com/posttitle/. This is a shorter pathway to the actual post and allows the search engine crawlers to find it more easily. Don’t know where to setup your permalinks? Just go to setting -> permalinks in your WordPress admin area. I’ll show you all about it in the video below.

UPDATE: Thanks to Lisa’s question in the comments below, I did a little research and found a way to change your permalinks and redirect existing posts to the new permalink structure. I will share the details in an upcoming post. Thanks for the great question, Lisa!

Slugs: Here is another great benefit to running your own self-hosted WordPress blog. The slug is the part of the URL that indicates the actual post location. In the permalink example above, the slug is the portion of the URL at the end labeled “posttitle.” Now WordPress is going to automatically set the slug to be the same as your post title, but changing it to make it more WordPress SEO friendly is as easy as clicking the “Edit” button to the right of the Permalink and making the changes you want. When changing your slug to match your WordPress SEO strategy, you want to consider two elements. First, the length is important. You want your slug to be full of rich keywords, so eliminate any unnecessary words like “the,” “and,” or “or.” Second, you want your slug to be relevant as well, so only leave in the words that matter to the topic of the post. For example, in the URL for this post, I have shortened the slug to 3 key words — “wordpress-seo-tips.”

2. WordPress SEO Continues with the Right SEO Plugin

There are a ton of WordPress SEO plugins available out there — both premium (meaning you pay for it) and free (meaning you don’t). However, whether you pay for it or not really has nothing to do with the quality and overall functionality of the plugin. SEOPressor is a paid plugin that I see a lot of blog owners using. Going the free route, there will always be the great debate of Yoast SEO versus All In One SEO. I did my own amount of research and decided to use the Yoast plugin on this blog, which has served me well. However, you really can’t go wrong with either one.

3. WordPress SEO also Includes Installing a Related Links Plugin

Again, as with the SEO plugins, there are many of these types of plugins to choose from as well. The one I use on this site is called LinkWithin. It is free, customizable, and can be downloaded from the LinkWithin website. Having some sort of related links plugin gives you some automatic internal linking as well as helps to reduce the bounce rate on your site. That means visitors are staying longer and not leaving after seeing only one page or post on your blog. So, the idea is fairly simple. Since these plugins aim to provide relevant content to the article they are displayed under, the links are valuable in terms of WordPress SEO.

Well, that’s about it for these 3 Amazingly Simple WordPress SEO Tips. I have to say, I have accomplished more in this post than I had really thought possible. Besides sharing some awesome WordPress SEO tips, I have written my first post of over 1000 words as well as recorded my first video. That’s quite the trifecta for me.

I love reading and responding to your comments, so let me know what WordPress SEO strategies you employ and then share the love with a RT, Like, +1, and Pin!

Comments (90)

Twitter: enstinemukiHey Tom,
I love how you introduce this post and thanks for linking to your guest article on my blog

I think these are some of the most important onpage SEO tips every blogger should know. You broke it down to earth for everyone to understand.

Ah! the video! I made my first video some few weeks back using the same app you are using. I even went and upgraded to the pro version for 3 years (costed less than $30 I think but I may need to check it out again)

Your first post of over 1000 words? That’s awesome. This has happened to me several times. Most often, I would just want to do a short post but end up going beyond “short”

Hey Enstine,
It is so good to see you here. Now that I have used the video software I will certainly be looking at the pro version for the future. It is really simple and easy to use. Thanks for the encouragement and have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

Twitter: LisapatbTom, can you change permalink structure after 300 posts or will it change the links? I’m using month/name.
I have been changing the slugs for the past few months. Good to know. I have Yoast and did not realize the LinkWithin it. I use a plugin called Related posts. Thanks for sharing these tips!Lisa recently posted…SEO Guide – A Day At SEO Kindergarten For Beginners

Hey Lisa, actually you can make such a change and it’s really pretty simple. Hit me up and I’ll be happy to help you do it. Also, that’s a great topic for another post. Thanks for your kind words and have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

Twitter: ThatGamingCritiYou couldn’t be more right! This is exactly what I’ve been doing. I’m not so good with the slug and I overall ignore it. But that’s just me being lazy…it’s a good practice and I should probably start doing that. Thanks Tom! (good video by the way isn’t screen-o-matic excellent?) – Scott CraigheadScott Craighead recently posted…Hot Blog Tips Addresses Blogging With That Gaming Critic

Hey Scott, changing the slug only takes and few seconds and can really help your overall SEO strategy, you should definitely look into that. And yes, the video software is really awesome. It’s free and very easy to use. I am going to look at the pro plan for sure — I think it’s only $29 for three years.Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

Twitter: cudjoe1991Congratulations on your Feature as being the blogger of the week on Emfastincome.com and as usual, you climaxed it with an interesting post here!Emmanuel recently posted…In the Name Of Blogging!

Hello Sandy, so glad to meet you here. I can understand your concern about internal linking plugins. One of the reasons I like the LinkWithin plugin is because when you build it on their website, you have the option to choose 3, 4, or 5 related posts to show on your article. It gives you some control over the issue you bring up. Thanks so much for the comment and have a great weekend!Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

Hi Ileane, thank you so much for your encouragement and inspiration! I’m already planning my next video tutorial.

In answer to your question, I imported my posts, but still wanted any links to the .com posts to still work and be redirected to my new blog. I purchased domain mapping through wp.com to accomplish that and the permalink structure needed to be the same so that the redirects would work. However, after doing some additional research this week, I found a way to change my permalinks on this blog and still keep the mapping from wp.com.

Thanks again for your help and encouragement. Have a great weekend yourself!Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

Twitter: gadgetalksSEO is backbone of any website or blog.
you said it right that there can be endless debate on SEO by Yoast vs All in One SEO pack Plugin.
I am also using SEO by Yoast personally.
Thanks for Review TomRajesh Jhamb recently posted…How to determine the right drive for your needs

Hi Rajesh,
You are right that SEO is a very important of building a great website or blog. Glad to see you are using a great SEO plugin and that it is working for you. Have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…SEO Rankings: How To Get a Boost

Hi Sohail,
Thanks for reading and adding to the discussion. You are right – SEO is still an important part of any blogging strategy. Have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…Top 5 Reasons For an SEO Investment

Twitter: GarSpecialties?Good explanation of slugs. When I see a url with WordPress in it, I think to myself, loving hands at home. Meaning I don’t take that site very seriously. It is all about perception.

Hi Arleen,
So glad to meet you here. Slugs are becoming a more important part of an overall SEO strategy, so I’m glad I can help explain them a little better. Thanks for reading and commenting. Have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

Twitter: madlemmingzHey Tom, nice coverage of the SEO aspect of WordPress. I must say I keep neglecting to fix my slug issues. I still have the date in there and I think it really detracts from the overall url, SEO searchability and indexing etc. I need to go back and 301 all my old posts. I thought the previous ones would stay the same and new ones use the new structure. But I once tried it and killed all my old posts! lesson learned. Pick a good structure from day one – if you can!!Ashley Faulkes recently posted…TweetDeck – New Tweet Panel

Hi Ashley,
Thank you for your kind words. It took me a long time to finally fix my slug issues. I’ll be posting next week on how to fix the issue, including how to redirect all your old posts easily with one little hack. Thanks for reading and commenting. Enjoy your day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

Thanks for your informative blog post on SEO, including the explanation of permalinks and slugs. All three suggestions are very helpful. I’m using a plugin similar to LinkWithin, but I wanted to try out LinkWithin. It doesn’t recognize my url as a valid blog which is a mystery! I already use Yoast and incorporate SEO into all my posts. This is my first visit to your blog and I am very impressed! Thanks!

Hello Raena Lynn,
It’s very nice to meet you here. Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving such as great comment! If you have any questions, let me know how I can help. That is strange about LinkWithin. You should definitely contact their support about that issue. Have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

You’ve been blogging for four years too! Well congratulations, that’s saying a lot.

I oftentimes forget just how much I know but permalinks is so important, especially when you first set up your blog. I’ll be curious to read your other post on the redirects because I set mine up right the first time so I wouldn’t know how to tell people to redirect their older posts after changing the permalinks.

I had a reader ask me the question what was a slug so I wrote a post about that a couple years ago. You did a great job of explaining that here as well.

I have Thesis so there’s a built in SEO feature thank goodness. I also use the Efficient Related Posts for my blog which of course pulls in the posts that are related to my subject.

Hi Adrienne, thanks for the congrats. I know that some frameworks like Thesis and Genesis already help with SEO, as well as some premium themes like Standard Theme (too bad it was just shut down with the dissolution of 8BIT). Glad to hear you are using a related post plugin — most of them are good and do the job just fine. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your week!Tom Jamieson recently posted…8 Simple Steps to SEO

Twitter: avgjoegeekTom – some great points you have listed here. I would recommend that you try out and test the nRelate related post plugin (and list 5 instead of the 3 you currently have). That and Outbrain are some great alternatives to LinkWithin. Plus you get some great theming options to help make the related posts gel better with your site!

Twitter: lastingbpI actually prefer SEO Ultimate to Yoas and All in One but those two are great ones as well. It really pains me when I see people use the wrong permalinks lol. WP should just get rid of the number perms all together. Great post! Leon Bailey recently posted…Orlando RV TV Commercial

Hey Leon, I just recently came across SEO Ultimate and so I really don’t know that much about it yet. When I was searching some time ago for SEO plugins, as expected the other two were at the top of the list. After doing some research on both of them, I decided the Yoast plugin would fit my needs the best and that’s what I have been using ever since.

You really can’t get more simple than changing the permalink for your blog posts. Thank you for pointing this out, as it can really help with SEO and it only takes a few seconds. One additional point is that if you change the permalinks you have to make sure people aren’t linking to that page already or the links on other sites leading to that page will lead to error pages. If you make sure to set up redirects you can avoid that problem! SEO by Yoast is also so incredibly simple, even people with little SEO knowledge can use it to help with the SEO for their site.

Twitter: BlazingMindsI’ve always been a big fan of Yoast SEO, I’ve installed it on all the websites that I have installed for people and on my own. When it comes to related posts, I use one called nRelate, it has a nice selection of templates for the look of the related articles on the post.

Hi Karen,
After doing some research a while ago on the SEO plugins available, I ended up choosing the Yoast plugin and have really liked it. Another commenter had also suggested nRelate, so I checked it out a few days ago and ended up switching from LinkWithin to nRelate. Thanks for adding to the discussion and have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…How To Change Permalinks on an Existing WordPress Blog

Twitter: wonderoftechHi Tom, Great suggestions. All of these will go a long way to getting and keeping readers. I use a plugin called Where Did They Go From Here that helps people find other articles on my blog.

Twitter: write_cleverGreat post, Tom – until I read this I thought slugs were those slimy things that ate all our Hosters!

I think I’ve about got these three points covered on my blog. I use that permalink structure and always try to remember to cut down my slug, as you suggest. I use the AIOSEO plugin, because Yoast’s too complicated for me. I use the contextual related posts plugin for internal links – not sure if it’s as good as the one you use, but I think it’s OK.

I’m glad to hear you are already up to speed with these tips on your own blog. It will go a long way in helping your overall SEO strategy. The plugins you are using are all good ones and certainly very popular among bloggers. Yoast has been a good fit for me and traffic has been steadily increasing since I installed it, though I suspect AIO would have given me similar results. I recently switched from the LinkWithin plugin over to nRelate instead. I looks nicer and gives me more options.

Twitter: TechWayzHi Tom !
You’ve share the most important SEO tips . I never knew these tips until i started using WordPress platform for the first time (from the last week of august 2013) . I read many topics on Ideal Permalink structures for search engines , SEO plugins ..etc and applied the right strategies (just as you’ve mentioned in this post) on my blog .Thanks for sharing the information .

This is a very interesting question: to use your name or not to use it?

I think when you begin, it is better to start with a niche blog and not with your name. However, you must buy a domain that has your name in it just to be sure. You will definitely need it later, when you become famous.

About the related plugins
I use Related post thumbnails. I saw people who use only related links and others who use thumbnails. I think using an image to attract attention is better.

SEO Plugins
I use AllInOneSEO. I heard a lot of good things about YOAST but I don’t know if it works with AIOSEO. What really matters for me in choosing such kind of plugin is the existence of a guide or some instructions that will help you configure the plugin. If I don’t know how to configure Yoast, for example, I won’t use it no matter how good it is.

Hi Silviu! I agree with you, as I mentioned in my post, if I had it to do all over again I would not have started with using my name as my URL. I also agree about the thumbnails for related posts. I used to utilize the LinkWithin plugin and I have recently switched over to nRelate. both are free and both use thumbnails for addressing related posts. There are several really good SEO plugins out there, with AIO and Yoast probably being the two that are most used and well-known. I researched them both and decided that Yoast would work best for me. Joost did a guide himself for the plugin, which is helpful. Thanks for sharing your experiences and have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…How To Backup Your WordPress

Hello Tom,
I loved the way you shared your experience from running a WordPress blog to owning a domain of your name. All the WordPress SEO Tips you shared are quite useful for effective SEO, special thanks for making me understand what actually permalinks & slugs are. I knew a bit about permalinks but did not have any idea about slugs, I am still laughing at myself that how I was able to run a blog when I did not have any idea about slugs. LinkWithin Plugin is also of great use as it reduces bounce rate by providing internal linking within your blog. Once your blog post gets old, its really tough to create backlinks for that old post, at that time internal link building does the trick for you. Thank you for sharing the article.drakes recently posted…Whatsapp for PC Download, Whatsapp for Windows 7/8/Vista Computer

Hello drakes and thank you for the kind words! I’m glad you liked the way I wrote that post as well as the SEO tips that I shared. Don’t feel bad – many bloggers don’t realize the importance of permalinks and/or slugs when they first start out – I didn’t either Thanks for adding your comments and have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…The Danger of Automatic WordPress Meta Descriptions

Twitter: top5seoHi Tom, all good tips and I’m a big fan of the YOAST plugin too – it pretty much takes care of all the basics and allows you to focus on the most important SEO tip of all… creating great content!David McSweeney recently posted…Penguin Safe Link Building And Topical Authority

Twitter: zombieaffiiateHi Tom, I use WordPress too. I’m glad I came across this article on your wordpress SEO tips. Almost all of my slug url contain the whole title as the slug. Due to you post I will now shrink it.Michele recently posted…Start Blogging With These Great Tips

Thanks for the great article, 3 easy tips to act on. Would it be possible to see some stats/figures/metrics regarding your suggestions? I would love to know the relative impact of each of the above tips.

Twitter: artofimarketingGreat post!
SEO is one of the most important tools when having a website but it is not easy to learn… That’s why posts like this help a lot, especially with the google algorithms changing so fast nowadays!
Good luck to everyone

Great video. You’re a natural when it comes to explaining these things. I’m going to have to give video another go I think. You’ve inspired me!

I’ve always used the URL structure you recommend. It was recommended to me from the outset.

In terms of SEO plugins, whilst I use the Genesis framework with built-in SEO, I think it’s important to use a decent plugin like WordPress SEO by Yoast instead. The built-in SEO options in frameworks like Genesis and Thesis, just aren’t powerful enough, I don’t think.

Hi Tim – thanks for your kind words. I really enjoyed making this video and am looking forward to doing more of them in the future. I switched to nRelate after writing this post when another blogger suggested it to me. I was unfamiliar with it, but am glad to be using it now. It really has a lot of great features and the best part is it’s FREE! Thanks for stopping by and adding your comment. I really appreciate it.Tom Jamieson recently posted…Negative SEO: Active Steps To Protect Your Website

Twitter: NoizyOyster1Hello there,
Three good tips! I, the domain should have been set up from the very start.
If you use a different domain at the start of the your site and it gains some following, you will drop in page rankings when you change domain

Twitter: lipekurpielHey Tom… you covered essential things here. Permalinks are way too important, actually I ended up learning that via an SEO course but now it’s clear why you have to change the default settings.
I agree with you, SEO plugins also have its importance and related to that I am a huge fan of Yoast plugin!
Nice sharing man.
See you!Lipe Kurpiel recently posted…Using Comments for SEO and Blog Promotion

Hello Lipe – you are too kind! I agree, setting up your permalinks will go a long way toward helping your overall SEO strategy. Glad to hear you are using the Yoast plugin – it does a great job. Thanks for commenting and have a great day!Tom Jamieson recently posted…SEO Guide: 5 Excellent Benefits You Can Get From Social Media

Twitter: jitendrabloggerHey Tom ,
Well written piece of content . WordPress is great platform for bloggers, it offer huge bundle of plugins to bloggers. I loved wordpress very much. I’m a big fan of the YOAST plugin , this tool is so awesome.Jitendra Vaswani recently posted…5 Things That Can Go Wrong With Your Hosting

Thanks Buddy For sharing Awesome Seo Tips.
dude i learned a lesson from my blogging experience that traffic is the foremost thing you need to earn before monetizing your blog.
SEo is key if you want to success.Imtiaz Ahmed recently posted…How Add Stylish New Recent Comments Widget For Blogger

[…] realize just how important the formatting of their content is to the success of their long tail SEO strategy. Search engines focus on headings and subheads before real content, so it’s important that you […]

Twitter: MoneyEarnSiteActually it is possible to go wrong with SEO plugins. One SEO fact that isn’t a myth at all is that Panda penalizes over optimization and those plugins optimize the best way they can. They’re useful but should be used with care.Arthur Burlo recently posted…Two SEO Myths Busted

I pitched tent with the use of WordPress SEO by yoast, and I can say it is the best. Even, my webhost, synthesis only recommended the use of this plugin. The use of this plugin also has the advantage of generating a sitemap for you instead of having to install another sitemap plugin.

Hi,
I never heard about this ‘SEOPressor’ WordPress plugin.As you said, it is paid plugin. is there any option to use the same for free? like some trial period.Permalinks, slugs everything is essential for blog. Thanks for the useful tips Jacob recently posted…Importance Of Social Bookmarking

The first thing to be considered after launching a blog is the URL structure thingy but some folks tend to over look this. Actually, SEO plugins doesn’t really matter to the SEO experts because they are already used to it and they don’t need any guide to tell them whether to add an ALT tag to their image or any other optimization.

Hey there! Read quite a lot of similar articles before, but did not really know about the LinkWithin plugin, which looks really nice and easy to use, so thanks for sharing!Sigbjro recently posted…Small changes may have big consequences!

Twitter: kishorebhagyaHi Jeff, great points dude, while most of them employ wordpress which post could be very useful to function efficiently along with produce a very good utilization of WP. thanks for sharing this type of informational and helpful post with us. thanks a lot Kishore recently posted…Whatsapp for PC (Whatsapp for Windows 7/8/XP)

Twitter: GlobalCrazeHi Tom
I am highly appreciate with your point #1 that WordPress SEO starts with choosing the right URL. We should always choose right permalink structure so that we can improve search engine optimization of our WordPress blog. Thanks for sharing this article. Happy Blogging Chetan Gupta recently posted…How to Make Blogger Comment Dofollow

Hey,
That’s a useful article, I agree with you that WordPress SEO starts with choosing right URL. Your 3rd point about Related Links Plugins, I just installed LinkWithin plugin on my blog.
Thanks for sharing this useful post.Rahul Sharma recently posted…EASILY SYNC BOOKMARKS AND PASSWORDS IN CHROME

I’m hoping you can help me. I’ve been using permalinks of the /%postname% variety, but I want to change them to /%postname%-%post_id% so that our articles qualify for the requirements for inclusion in Google News.

I can change the setting under Settings > Permalinks without difficulty. The new URLs work just fine. However, of course, this ends up breaking backlinks to the old URLs.

So mydomain.tld/my-post-name returns a 404 error, when the new URL becomes mydomain.tld/my-post-name-1234 and where 1234 is the post ID.

Do you know of a .htaccess rule to automatically redirect my old URLs to my new URLs, based on the above pattern?

Twitter: reciteclubYou say right a good url and right SEO plugin is important factor of a blog. If we are not use SEO plugin than we are not get higher rank on search engine. You are share good tips for SEO. you article is very informative for newbie blogger. So thanks for sharing this helpful article.suresh recently posted…How to create private blog network without Google penalty